Late Crawlers Likely to Have Poor School Performance

Children who can’t crawl by the age of nine months will be likely to have poor school performance, according to physiologists at the University of London. The researchers observed 15,000 children during their first five years of life.

Simple tests helped reveal the link between the pace of child development and his or her performance and behavior at school. The ability to perform all kinds of actions is linked to the development of muscles fine motor skills. 96 percent of nine-month olds could sit unsupported, 92 percent could crawl, 60 percent could stand supported by parents, 4 percent were taking their first steps. 99 percent could grip a toy, 95 percent could shift it from one hand to the other. Overall, 10 percent of children lagged behind their peers and had problems with school performance and behavior as five-year olds. Researchers empathized that children are different and every child has an individual pace of development, but parents need to be aware of possible problems to get everything on track in time.

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik.